The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 3: March 1995
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CITES action for Sharks
Sonja Fordham, Centre for Marine Conservation
Last year's meeting on the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), held in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, proved to be a pivotal event for sharks when a
resolution to improve international shark data collection received
unanimous approval.
The resolution was prompted by the growing recognition of the
plight of many shark species. Once considered "under-utilised"
resources, increasing numbers of shark populations world-wide now
face over-exploitation and severe depletion as markets for shark
meat, fins, and cartilage expand. Conservation and management
efforts for sharks have historically been hampered due to lack of data.
Initially, the resolution was introduced by the United States
and, after some debate, was sent to a working group made up
of interested delegates and conservationists from around the
world. After spirited deliberation, the working group produced a
reworked resolution which presented a compromise between interests
from several countries, including the US, Japan and Panama. The
revised document was then re-introduced and passed without
opposition.
International trade controls could become as
important for the conservation of some sharks as they are for
the survival of reptiles. Photo: Carl Safina.
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Entitled "The Status of International Trade in Shark Species", the
resolution calls for the Animals Committee of CITES to review all
information concerning the biological status of sharks and the effects
of international trade, and submit a report to the next Conference of
the Parties to CITES in the spring of 1997. In addition, the resolution
requests that the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United
Nations and other international fishery organisations improve their
research programs and submit new information on these topics to the
11th Conference of the Parties in the fall of 1999. The Centre for
Marine Conservation (CMC) will contribute to this endeavour by
teaming up with TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring arm of the
World Wide Fund For Nature, to produce a report on the international
trade in sharks fins. Research for the report will begin this year (see
article on page 2).
Considering CITES' inaction for marine fish to date, passage of
this resolution was remarkable. Only five species of marine fish (three
species of anadromous sturgeons, the coelacanth and the totoaba) are
currently included in the CITES Appendices, and this was the first time
that shark issues have earned consideration by the CITES delegates.
Advocacy and educational efforts by a number of conservation
groups helped to convince the delegates of the need for improved
shark data collection on a global scale. On the opening day of the
meeting, the CMC distributed a four page fact sheet on the need
for international shark conservation to all the delegates. During
specialist group, delivered an eloquent and persuasive statement on
behalf of imperilled shark populations. The World Wide Fund For
Nature, TRAFFIC, the National Audubon Society and the CMC
participated in the working group which drafted the compromise
resolution. The shark activities concluded with conservation groups
joining members of the US delegation in a press conference announcing
the resolution.
Improved data collection on shark fisheries, trade and population
status is the critical first step toward implementing international shark
conservation and management. This important action also lays the
groundwork for future efforts to use CITES to regulate trade and
conserve these vulnerable species.
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